Jennings School Project Officially Closed

Elementary school students have been attending the new on Mercer Street for a few years now, but the Board of Education officially declared the construction project closed on Thursday.

The motion was accepted by the board without discussion. According to Dr. Nicholas Fischer, superintendent of , the motion was needed to in order to apply for state reimbursement on the portable buildings at Veterans Field on Cedar Grove Avenue. The portables were used as classroom space during the Jennings School work and that use is continuing amid other school projects. Fischer said the Jennings School project must be officially closed out before the district can apply for reimbursement on the portables in their continuing use.

The portables were recently used to house , which moved to the building on Beech Drive for the start of this school year. Winthrop School—which is becoming a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics magnet school—will move into a new building on Grove Street after the winter break. Nathan Hale School students, who began attending classes in the portables at the start of this school year, will remain there while work is done on the Beech Drive building.

Work on the Jennings School cost approximately $36 million, according to board President Al Kinsall. It started in 2005 and was completed in 2008.